


Cupcakes and Apple Pie

by sternchencas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Autistic Jack Kline, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Social Worker Dean Winchester, Teacher Castiel (Supernatural), WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sternchencas/pseuds/sternchencas
Summary: Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak hope to have a good first day at school. Dean has a new job as a school counselor, and Castiel needs to navigate the troublesome waters of being a teacher. Instead, they each find their nemesis - in each other.Despite dealing with a strict boss, single parenting, and extracurricular activities, they both enjoy nothing more than making each other’s lives miserable. At least until they find out that there’s more between them than just hate. Something way more profound.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WIP, inspired by and written for the Destiel Fluff Bingo 2019 on tumblr. Most of the chapters will fill a square of my bingo card.
> 
> Chapter 01: first day of school
> 
> The next chapter will be posted June 29th.

“Claire, get a move on, we have to go!” Dean shouts up the stairs, but there’s no answer from Claire. She’s probably wearing those stupid headphones again. Dean told her a thousand times that he doesn’t mind her music as long as the neighbors don’t have to hear it as well, but Claire insists on listening to it in private. In private, the big theme of a 17-year-old girl. Dean fully accepts that as well, just not when it makes them late. “Claire!”

Dean hurries back into the kitchen and gulps down the rest of his coffee before grabbing his bag and making his way to the door. “Claire!” he shouts again and almost bumps into her at the bottom of the stairs.

“Present, okay?” she says, and gives him one of her mildly annoyed looks with her headphones hanging around her neck. If Dean didn’t know better, he’d think they were part of her body.

“We’re already late,” Dean says and checks his watch. He wants nothing more than to leave right away, but he also has to be responsible. “But you should eat something.”

Claire types on her phone and doesn’t look up. “I already ate.”

“When?”

“An hour ago? You know, after I got up,” she says, still focused on her phone.

“I was in the kitchen the whole-” Dean stops and finally Claire looks up to raise a teasing eyebrow at him. They both know that Dean was still asleep an hour ago and he huffs, “Forget it.”

“You should sleep more, you know?” Claire’s eyes are back on her phone, but that doesn’t keep her from lecturing him. “Four hours a night is not enough.”

“Tell that to my job. And that kid who keeps me tossing and turning with nightmares when I think about her snappy comments to every damn thing I say.”

“Touche,” Claire quips with a smile and walks out the door.

Dean takes another look at his watch and follows her with a sigh. He just hopes the school has some parking spaces for the staff, even if he’s not a teacher. He’s in no mood to quarrel with one of the kids over a space just to drop off some paperwork. And getting into a fight with a teenager is never a good idea. With his experience as a counselor and foster dad, he knows one thing for sure about that; you can never win.

**********

Dean can’t believe his luck when a spot opens up for them right by the front door. Maybe this day is going to be alright. He tells Claire not to wear those damn headphones in class but also wishes her a great day. She saunters off, determined to find her own way without her dad as a backup, and Dean heads to the office to hand in the last of his paperwork to start his next job.

The lady greeting him, Anna Milton, has flaming red hair and a nice smile, and she’s way too young to work as a school secretary, but at least he won’t have to deal with one of those old hags who hate kids and only pretend to care about the teachers. Anna leads him to the principal's office to meet Naomi Smith. She reminds him of his former history teacher and that’s not a pleasant surprise, just as Miss Smith doesn’t seem to be a pleasant person to be around.

The second Dean enters her office, Naomi gives him that look. He’s seen it on so many faces before and it only takes a few seconds to tell him a lot about the person in front of him. She clearly doesn’t approve of his hair, judging from her eyes lingering way too long up there, although it’s not even that bad. Yes, he has an undercut, but the top hair isn’t that long, and he denied himself to put any color in it. It makes him wonder what Naomi might have thought about the spikes he had when he was younger.

Probably nothing good. Her gaze travels from the necklace around his neck, over the tattoos on his arms, and down to his boots. Granted, he could have worn less torn jeans, but he skipped the last laundry day and this is all he has. With the look never leaving her face, she produces a forced smile and shakes Dean’s hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a part of the hiring process, but you came highly recommended.”

“Thank you for taking the time,” Dean says, trying to sound sincere. “I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“Indeed I am, but I’m trying to at least greet the new staff before they venture off into the halls of my school,” Naomi says, and Dean translates it to ‘I know who you are now, and I will keep an eye on you.’ She walks over to her desk to pick up a folded piece of paper. “Whatever information you need, you can get from Anna, and of course, you can always talk to the other staff members. And these are your hours. I had to make a few last minute adjustments.”

She hands Dean the paper and while she sits down, Dean studies the times, annoyance growing inside of him. “That’s completely different from what we discussed. I have to arrange these with my other job after all.”

“Mr. Winchester, I have to arrange all teachers, students, rooms, and activities. These are the times I can give you, can you work with them or not?” Naomi asks, and in Dean’s ears it sounds like, ‘do I have to hire somebody else?’

“I should be able to make it work,” he says. “Can I ask what changed that made those adjustments necessary?”

“Well, you’ll see that we offer a wide range of activities for the students. There are always a few factors in play, but I think in this case, Mr. Novak's book club might have been a big factor,” Naomi explains. Her voice is still the same, but Dean can tell from her face that she wants this conversation to end. “Is that all I can help you with at the moment?”

“Sure, I’m good,” Dean lies, and he hurries out of her office. As a social worker, he has some leeway with his hours, but he still has to tell his boss that he just got his ass kicked and that he might have to switch some things around. And all of this because of one teacher. Dean hopes that Mr. Novak will stay out of his way in the future.

 

* * *

 

Castiel waited as long as possible for Jack to come down on his own, but he’s still in his room, so Castiel goes upstairs and knocks. When he doesn’t get an answer, he walks into the room and finds Jack sitting on his bed and turning the outer ring of his bracelet. “Jack? We have to leave for school.”

When Jack keeps staring out of the window, Castiel walks in front of him and kneels down to get into his line of sight. “Morning Jack.”

Finally, Jack focuses on him but keeps fidgeting with his bracelet. “Morning father.”

He even smiles a little, and Castiel sits down next to him. Jack isn’t fond of touching but he likes it when Castiel is right next to him like a guardian angel. “Do you miss Clark?”

Jack nods. He has a hard time making friends and Clark has been the only one able to deal with his ‘weirdness.’ Sadly, he moved to another state in the summer. “He texted me,” Jack says, and takes his phone out of his pocket. “He says I’ll be alright, but I know that the others won’t talk to me again now that he’s gone.”

“If that’s the case, and you don’t know that yet, then it’s their loss,” Castiel says and he nudges Jack’s shoulder so carefully that they barely touch. “Promise me you don’t try to be ‘normal.’”

Castiel puts the word in air quotes. He hates to use it in general, and especially with Jack. “But father-,” Jack wants to object, but Castiel interrupts him.

“I think we both remember what happened last time. You were hurting and not happy at all. It’s not worth it. Just be yourself, okay? I’m actually very fond of you.”

Castiel winks and Jack smiles again. “I think I’m ready to go.”

“Great, let’s do this.”

Castiel feared that they might be too late to park anywhere near the entrance and the parking lot is full of students who don’t give a damn that he’s a teacher. It takes forever to get through the crowd and Castiel drops off Jack right in front of the entrance and contemplates what to do. He doesn’t have classes today and only needs to check his mailbox in the teacher’s room.

Castiel spots a black, shiny car that’s parked right next to the entrance, and the owner locks it and makes his way to the entrance. Castiel hates to box him in, but if he just went inside, he probably won’t come back so soon. It takes a little maneuvering, but Castiel parks his Lincoln behind the black car and some plants, so he’s only blocking one car before he rushes inside to get his things. At least here, the students who know him get out of his way, and he should be in and out in a few minutes.

“Morning, Castiel,” a voice greets him and Castiel’s neck hair stands up. He turns around and smiles.

“Morning, Becky.”

Becky Rosen joined the staff last year, and Castiel hates her with a burning passion. She always acts friendly, but then talks ill behind people’s backs and is annoying in every way possible.

“I heard about your book club and wanted to offer my help,” she says.

The book club is Castiel’s baby and he’s been looking forward to doing it the whole summer. There’s no chance in hell that he’ll let Becky sink her bleached teeth into it. Talking her out of it will take some effort, but he’ll be damned if she ruins this for him.

 

* * *

 

Still angry about Naomi, and even angrier at himself, Dean storms back to his car. He keeps thinking about the conversation with her, and he should have fought back more but he didn’t want to lose the job. The only reason he applied was that Jody Mills asked him to. She took in some of the foster kids in his care and pointed out that the school could use somebody like him as a counselor. Going back to her and having to tell her that he got fired on his first day is out of the question.

Dean keeps staring at the piece of paper Naomi handed him and tries to come up with the best way to juggle his clients. Occupied with the task, he doesn’t look around, but hastily unlocks his car and gets inside. He throws the paper at the passenger seat and is about to back out of the parking space when he sees the car behind him. Dean hits the break and cusses. It takes him a moment to understand that it isn’t someone who cut him off, but that the car is actually parked there.

With another curse, Dean gets out of the car again and looks around. Now that classes started, the parking lot is empty and dead silent. Dean decides to wait for five minutes and uses the time to call his colleague Benny to let him know that he will be late. Around the ten minute mark, Dean is about to explode and gets his phone out to call a freaking tow truck.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” a voice shouts at him and Dean looks up to find a dark-haired man hurrying towards him, much likely a teacher. He wears black dress pants and a white shirt, all buttoned up. When he arrives at Dean’s side, he pushes his glasses up and rearranges the papers in his hands to keep them from scattering the ground. “I hope you didn’t wait too long.”

“15 minutes,” Dean bluffs and the stranger makes a face.

“I really tried to be quick, but I was held up by a colleague,” the man explains and Dean is satisfied that he at least sounds out of breath.

“You’re a teacher?”

“Oh yes,” the man says and offers Dean his hand, “Castiel Novak. I teach English and History.”

Usually, Dean would have been happy about meeting a colleague without a forced introduction on school grounds, but now he only sees red. “So you’re the book club guy.”

“I guess so. You heard about that already?” Castiel asks and takes his hand back.

Dean grunts. “Heard? My whole schedule got rearranged because of it. I have to reorganize my entire life now, but I’m glad you’ll have some time to read.”

Castiel furrows his eyebrows, taken aback by Dean’s hostility. “I don’t understand, who are you?”

“Dean Winchester, the new student’s counselor.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you.” Castiel looks like he’s about to offer him his hand again but steadies his papers instead. “There are some students who could really use your help.”

“Yeah, I guess I start with talking about manners with them,” Dean growls and pointedly stares at Castiel’s car.

He knows he might not be fair about all this, but he’s too pissed to be nice and it seems he reached the end of Castiel’s rope. “Well, Mr. Winchester, I don’t have any say in the schedule, you’ll have to bring that up with principal Smith. As far as manners go, I would have offered you a coffee to make up for boxing you in, but I’m not sure you’d be able to drink it up there on your high horse.”

“Excuse me?” Dean bluffs, but Castiel walks past him.

“Some counseling that must be,” he mumbles and gets into his car.

“Hey, you’re on a horse, high up, thing,” Dean says, but Castiel drives away without giving him another glance and leaves Dean with his anger and no place to put it. Dean balls his fists and lets out a quiet scream before he gets into his car and drives to work. He should have known that there’s no chance of having a good first day of school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Square: single parent AU
> 
> Sorry I'm late with the chapter. My sister had her baby and I kinda lost my job. Real life was crazy. 
> 
> Next chapter will be posted at the end of July.

After the rocky start into the school year, Castiel is lucky not to run into Dean again and he’s hopeful that their schedules are different enough that he doesn’t see him around that often. Castiel also managed to get Becky to bother somebody else and therefore had a great first week. At home, he talked a little about it with Jack and waited for him to maybe offer something in return, but Jack only reacted to what Castiel said.

Now, they’re cooking together, and Castiel tries a more direct approach. “So far school was alright for me. Funny enough, I have a student also called Novak. How was your first week?”

Jack has been cubing the vegetables but now he stops and stares at Castiel. “Claire Novak?”

“Yes. Do you have classes with her?”

“I do,” Jack says and goes back to cutting. “I don’t like her.”

Castiel walks around in the kitchen, collecting more ingredients they’re going to need, but he keeps an eye on Jack. “After only a week? Why don’t you like her?”

“She’s loud and thinks she’s right about everything,” Jack says and then his voice gets quiet. “And she called me a weirdo.”

“We’ve talked about this-,” Castiel begins and Jack interrupts him.

“I know, I know. I have to give people some time and the benefit of the doubt. Still hurts though.”

Castiel leans over the counter to catch Jack’s eye. “I’m sorry she hurt you. But although she’s loud, I’m sure she’s redeemable. I consider her a smart person. Maybe you can talk to her?”

“Maybe,” Jack agrees and Castiel watches the vegetables in front of him.

“Are you done with those?”

Jack lifts the cutting board like he wants to hand it over, but then he puts it down again. “I only did them twice. I need to do it three times.”

“Sure, I’ll take care of the pasta. Just bring them over when you’re ready,” Castiel says and while Jack gets back to his work, Castiel fights the urge to call up Claire’s parents and give them a piece of his mind.

Claire is a teenager after all, and while she’s smart when it comes to school stuff, she probably never encountered somebody like Jack. Castiel hates to see Jack hurt, but for now, he wants to give him a chance to sort it out with her himself. If that doesn’t work, he can still jump in and have a word with her. Usually, Castiel would have considered involving the school’s counselor, but that is out of the question. He doesn’t want Jack anywhere near that angry caveman.

 

* * *

 

Dean holds the diner’s door open for Claire and she makes her way to their usual booth in the corner while Dean heads to the bathroom. When he comes out, Claire has her headphones back on and types on her phone. Dean sighs. He didn’t want to bother her on the drive over, but he’s not looking forward to a silent dinner. The other option is probably an argument though, so Dean sits down and checks his own phone.

To his surprise, Claire takes off the headphones and puts them down. “I ordered the usual for you; Ellen said it’ll be here in a second.”

“Thank you,” Dean says and looks around the diner. “Pretty empty today.”

Claire puts down her phone next to the headphones and takes a look herself. “Maybe a game or something?”

They live in a small town and any sports event can almost empty it, aside from the people who don’t care about sports, like Claire and him. “Maybe,” he says and watches Claire browsing the list of songs of the tiny jukebox on the table. He reaches into his pocket for some change and puts it on the table. “You wanna listen to something?”

“Oh, thanks.” Claire feeds the jukebox and pushes the buttons when Ellen comes over with their food and drinks.

“Good choice,” she says and smiles at Claire. “Always had a good time with that song.”

Claire smiles but rolls her eyes. “No details, please.”

“You’re missing out,” Ellen shrugs and puts down their food. “Enjoy.”

“Thank you,” Dean and Claire respond in unison and Dean immediately bites into his burger while Claire nibbles on some fries.

After wolfing down half of his meal, Dean is saturated enough to have a conversation. “So, the first week of school is over. How did it go?”

Claire feeds the jukebox with another coin. “Alright, I guess.”

She pushes in a number and stays silent, so Dean gives it another go. “Care to elaborate on that? Classmates, teachers, good, bad?”

“More good than bad, I guess. This one girl Kaila showed me around the first day. She’s nice.”

“And cute?” Dean can’t help but ask.

Claire rolls her eyes but nods. “Nice and cute. Anyway, my teachers are alright. Mr. Novak, my English teacher, is pretty cool. He started a book club this year and Kaila asked me if we wanted to join together.”

Pretty cool? Dean wishes he could say something nasty, but he can’t exactly condemn a teacher in front of Claire just because he got into a fight with him. “Sounds interesting.”

“Yeah, we can join or leave whenever we want, so there’s no pressure.” Claire eats another fry and watches Dean when he doesn’t react. “Did you meet him?”

“Meet who?”

“Mr. Novak. You meet the teachers and talk to them about the students, don’t you?”

Dean tries to keep his face in check and nods. “I ran into him in the parking lot, but we didn’t talk much.”

“I think you’d like him,” Claire says while drowning a fry in her milkshake. “Some kids made fun of me because we have the same name, but he shut them down. That was cool.”

“So not only nice kids?” Dean asks, trying to get away from Mr. Novak as the main topic of conversation.

“They were just goofing around,” Claire says and gives him a pointed look. She always does that when he’s not supposed to go into complete dad mode. “Everybody is fine, except that one kid. Jack Kline, he’s a weirdo.”

“Claire!” Dean bellows and she’s so startled she loses another fry in her drink.

“What?”

“I don’t know the kid, but I don’t want you to say such bullshit.”

“But he is weird,” Claire defends herself.

Dean gives her a stern look. “You’ve known him for a week, give the kid a break. Maybe he’s alright and you just don’t know him well enough.”

“Gee, you want his number or something?” Claire mocks but Dean doesn’t justify that with an answer and takes a bite from his burger instead. When he just chews at Claire, she caves. “Alright, alright, I’ll be nice and won’t call him a weirdo again. Maybe it’s just because his dad is a teacher.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“Mr. Novak.”

“But you said his name was Jack Kline,” Dean says dumbfounded.

Claire finally manages to rescue her fry and shrugs. “They don’t have the same last name, but I don’t know why. Maybe his parents are divorced.”

Dean can tell that Claire doesn’t care much about the topic, but he tries to imagine both the woman that would marry Novak and the kid that might result from that union. Maybe Jack is as weird as Claire said, but he rather keeps that to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Square: shopping/trying on clothes
> 
> next update: end of August

Castiel browses the tables in front of him, but more out of boredom than interest. He has enough clothes for school, and in private he wears things that are very different from what they sell here. He’s waiting for Jack who’s trying on some shirts and pants. They came here right after school when Jack announced that all of his things felt wrong. He’s very particular about the clothes he likes to wear at all, and once they don’t feel comfortable anymore, he refuses to wear them. That’s why Castiel introduced a system where they buy new things for Jack fairly often and give away his old things or sell them to a thrift store. With that method, they were able to avoid any clothes related panic attacks, and Castiel rather buys something every two weeks if necessary instead of letting Jack suffer.

“I’m talking to them, what the hell does it matter what I wear?” a voice mumbles behind Castiel. He turns around and freezes when he finds Dean at a table behind him, rummaging through the clothes. “Man, this will make me look like I’m 60. Who the hell would wear something like this out of free will?”

He throws a button down shirt back on the table and moves on, almost running into Castiel, who can’t help but comment on the rhetorical question. “I do.”

Dean’s face grows even darker. “Should have guessed that you shop here. But then they probably should rename the shop to ‘stuck up’.”

“Well, better stuck up than a hypocrite,” Castiel bluffs. “You talk about manners but ravage every display in here.”

For a moment, Dean looks guilty, but then he puffs himself up like an angry chicken. “Hey, I worked as a sales person once, okay? It’s part of their job to rearrange the clothes and they rather fold it themselves than have the customers do it all wrong.”

That does make sense, but Castiel can’t let Dean win. “So, nobody ever taught you to look with your eyes instead of your hands?”

Dean opens his mouth to retaliate, but then Jack appears next to Castiel. “Father, would you mind helping me for a moment? I can’t find these in my size.”

He holds up a pair of pants and Castiel takes them from him. “Of course, I’ll ask if they have them in more sizes.”

Castiel deliberately gives Dean a pointed look, indicating that he should stay away from them, and Dean turns around on his heel and storms off. Jack looks after him and turns to Castiel. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“It’s alright. The conversation was pointless anyway.”

“Who was that?” Jack asks. “I think I saw him before.”

Castiel wishes he could answer honestly, but he can’t say something bad about Dean in front of Jack. “Dean Winchester. He’s the new counselor at the school.”

“Oh, so that’s Claire’s father,” Jack says. “Is he nicer than her?”

“Is she still bothering you?” Castiel asks, doing his best to avoid Jack’s question.

Jack shrugs his shoulders. “She doesn’t call me weirdo anymore. That’s something, right?”

“Right,” Castiel says. He should probably consoul Jack a little more, but Jack doesn’t look like he’s eager to talk about Claire, and Castiel’s brain keeps wondering about something else. He knows that Dean works as a social worker, but that’s still different from having your own kids. Castiel tries to imagine Dean mowing the lawn and having fresh lemonade in the garden, brought to him by his loving wife. It’s a weird picture, and Castiel can’t decide if the whole picket fence thing suits Dean or not.

“Father? The pants,” Jack interrupts his thoughts and Castiel makes his way over to one of the employees. After all, he has more important things to do than wondering about Dean Winchester.

 

* * *

 

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Naomi “asked” Dean to “consider” a different clothing style while being at the school, he also had to run into that neat freak Novak. Usually, Dean doesn’t mind confrontation, but somehow Castiel rubs him the wrong way and this shop is not what Dean considers familiar territory. It’s not like he never wore a suit, but business casual isn’t his thing. Unlike Castiel.

Dean watches him talk to one of the sales clerks and it should be illegal to look that good in slacks and with an all buttoned up shirt. Dean wonders why he doesn’t let loose a little, he’s not at the school after all, but Castiel is even wearing a tie. Only now does Dean realize that he misses his glasses though. Maybe Castiel only needs them for reading. But that’s something that Dean shouldn’t care about anyway. With a sigh, Dean keeps looking around and grabs a few things before heading into one of the changing cubicles.

Most of the clothes he took are a nightmare and he barely puts them on before changing again. Only when he finds one ensemble that might be okay, he steps outside to watch himself in the bigger mirror on the opposite wall. He immediately regrets the decision when he finds Castiel sitting outside. Their eyes meet for a moment, but then Castiel looks him up and down and huffs.

“Problem?” Dean bluffs, but Castiel only shakes his head with a repelled look on his face. Dean wants to give him a piece of his mind, but Jack steps out of one of the cubicles.

“How about this one, father?” he asks.

Castiel doesn’t really look at the clothes before asking, “If you had to grade it, what would it get?”

Jack looks down on himself and moves his arms, trying to get a feel for the new clothes. “Maybe a B?”

“And that means…?” Castiel asks, stretching the last word.

“We keep looking for an A,” Jack says, and when Castiel nods, he heads back into the cubicle.

That might explain why Jack’s behavior seems strange to Claire. No wonder with such a father and his weird parenting. Dean usually tries not to overstep his bounds but he also has a problem with keeping his mouth shut. “You are grading his clothes, father?” he asks. “That’s not even douchey anymore. More like fucked up.”

Castiel glares at him, his eyes becoming small slits. “It’s practical, you moron,” he lets out in an angry whisper. “He’s hyper tactile and he doesn’t like certain types of fabric. If he doesn’t feel a 100% comfortable, he might have a panic attack. So keep your thoughts to yourself.”

Dean knows he put his foot in his mouth, but being called out like that by Castiel of all people turns his shame into anger. “Fine,” he says in the same tone as Castiel, “but I don’t appreciate your comments on my clothes.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“But you gave me a weird look.”

Castiel raises his eyebrows as if he can’t believe Dean’s nerve. “This is a public place, I will look wherever I please.”

“You know what,” Dean huffs, reaching the end of his rope, “you’re supposed to be a teacher, right? How about you act like it and do something useful for a change instead of going on my nerves.”

Dean knows it’s childish not to give Castiel a chance to reply, but he doesn’t care and storms back into his cubicle. Then he keeps trying on things he knows don’t fit, just to waste enough time that Castiel will be gone when Dean comes back out. After a while, he leaves and puts all his things on a rack in front of the changing rooms for the staff to take care of it. Sadly, that leaves him right where he started. He wants nothing more than to leave, but he still needs new clothes, so he dives back in and looks around.

When Dean turns a corner, he almost runs into somebody who turns out to be Jack. Dean’s about to apologize when his eyes fall on Castiel over at a nearby shelf. Castiel closes the distance between them with a few forceful steps and pushes a bunch of clothes into Dean’s arms. “Consider this an act of charity,” he grunts and waves for Jack to follow him.

They leave, and Dean checks out the clothes in his hands. He has no idea where Castiel dug them up, but they are way better than anything Dean tried on so far. With a sigh, he walks back to the changing rooms and grows angrier by the second. Not only does everything look good, but it also fits. He has no idea how Castiel managed to guess his size, and he wants nothing more than leave all the clothes behind, but he still needs them. Since Naomi already forces him to wear that stuff, it might as well be something Castiel picked out. Dean is too tired to give a damn anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so busy that I forgot about updating all together. Next chapter will be up at the end of October.   
> Square for the chapter: bake sale

Castiel manages another week without running into Dean, but his luck might turn today. There's a big bake sale at the school, and Jack mentioned that Claire will be there with her dad. Castiel tries not to dwell on the thought, though. Jack and he take part in the bake sale every year, and Castiel won't let the prospect of seeing Dean ruin their day.

The fun already started yesterday when they prepared their infamous cupcakes. Castiel does the round work while Jack exceeds at decorating them. He loves to focus on putting them together and has the endless patience to make them perfect while Castiel can't be bothered when they're going to be eaten a few hours later.

At the school, Jack and Castiel have their usual table in one corner of the auditorium. Jack prefers it that way, and they're close to the exit as well in case he wants to leave. Usually, they don't have to worry about their sales since their cupcakes are well known, and for three years they've won the first prize for making the most sales.

Everything goes fine until Castiel gets a call. He volunteers at a suicide hotline, and fortunately, they are staffed well enough that they barely need him, but over the years he got to know a few people that he might call his regulars. Most of them aren't even suicidal but like to talk to him because of other problems. Castiel holds up his phone for Jack. "It's the hotline. I'll be back as quickly as possible."

Jack nods and Castiel picks up while rushing outside. He finds an empty corridor to talk without interruptions. The caller is a man named Garth who has a gambling problem, and whenever he so much as thinks about making a bet, he calls Castiel. They talk for a few minutes, and when Castiel feels confident that Garth won't ruin his life, he heads back to their table.

Judging from the half-empty plates in front of him, Jack sold a few cupcakes, and a man is standing there looking at the display. When Castiel comes closer, he can make out what they're talking about. "Oh no, he's here. But he had to take an important phone call," Jack explains to the man.

"What can be more important than spending time with his son?" comes the reply and Castiel's insides turn hot with rage, not only because of the words but because Castiel recognizes the man saying them.

"If you must know, I do volunteer work at a suicide hotline," Castiel says. "It's nothing compared to counseling, but I do deem it important."

Dean turns around with a sour look on his face, and Castiel opts to get Jack away from the situation. "I'm back now; you can take a look around if you still want to, Jack."

"I think I get a piece of Mrs. Milton's cake. It's with nougat. I love nougat," he says, and he gets up and smiles at Dean. "Have a good day, Mr. Winchester."

"You, too, Jack."

When Jack gets out of earshot, Castiel waits for the other shoe to drop, but Dean's face lost the anger from before. "Nice kid you have there; well behaved."

It might be a desperate attempt to make amends, but Castiel can't bite his tongue. "That makes at least one in the family."

"Why?" Dean raises his eyebrows and gives him a weak smile. "Is your wife as rude as you are?"

"I don't have a wife," Castiel says. For a moment he's tempted to say more and talk about Jack's mother but decides that it's none of Dean's business.

When he doesn't follow up with anything, Dean nods. "Can you believe it? We actually have one thing in common."

"Oh, I wouldn't say just one. For once, you're dressed properly," Castiel teases, and Dean's cheeks grow red when he looks down on himself. He's wearing the clothes Castiel picked out for him at the store. Castiel has to admit that Dean looks good in them. He's an attractive man no matter the clothes, but this outfit gives him more of a teacher vibe.

Since Dean seems to do his best to avoid a fight, Castiel tries to do the same. "What I'm trying to say is that you look dashing."

The word he was going for was "good," but then his brain took a weird turn. Dean's head snaps up in surprise, and he stares at Castiel with big eyes before shaking his head, and a small smile appears on his lips. "An answer to everything. I try to be angry at you and then you're nice to my daughter, you pick out clothes for me, and you say nice things."

"That's because I am nice," Castiel insists. "I boxed you in one time, and I apologized for that. How about you consider that I'm not your arch-nemesis?"

"We'll see about that," Dean says and nods at the cupcakes on the table. "I admit that Jack did a mighty good job, but then there are me and the Winchester's apple pie."

"We won three years in a row, so I like our chances," Castiel says. "Are your pies any good?"

"Any good?" Dean huffs and seems to grow three sizes. "Don't even try to compete, Cas. No one can beat my apple pie! The best in town, hell the best in the world, I might even say! It tastes so good you'll wanna make sweet, sweet love to it, and make cute little apple pie babies, and eat them too."

Dean's eyes glaze over like he's actually thinking about doing what he just suggested. "You're gonna lick your fingers to catch every little crumb and move your tongue over your lips just to taste that sweet, warm pie again," Dean runs his tongue over his lips before he continues. "Just one bite and you'll moan with pleasure. It tastes so good, so good Cas. And it feels just as good in your mouth. You can feel it gently falling apart on your tongue, melting, the thick apple pieces giving in under your teeth. Everything feels so warm and soft and just heavenly."

Castiel never thought he'd listen so intently to something that Dean might say, but now he's hanging on every word and he's captivated by Dean's eyes which sparkle as if blessed by some pie deity. And Dean isn't done yet. His voice gets darker and rougher as he dives back into his speech. "Every single bite gets you higher and higher, and it keeps getting harder and harder to keep yourself under control until you can't take it anymore and BOOM!" Dean clenches his fists and takes a deep breath, his gaze still focused on Castiel. "The best pie-gasm ever!"

"Are we still talking about pie?" Castiel asks, and he sounds a little breathless.

"What else would we talk about?" Dean grins, and with a wink at Castiel, he disappears from the table.

Only now do the surroundings come back to Castiel. He's still at the school, standing next to their cupcakes, and he feels like he just did something naughty. But if that's how Dean wants to play it, Castiel is all in. Nobody just calls him Cas without asking first, and two can play that game.

 

* * *

 

Dean knows what he just did was childish, but Cas brings it out in him. Besides, Dean enjoys getting a rise out of Cas. It destroys the Mr. Perfect imagine that he's got going on. And Dean isn't done yet. He didn't care so much about winning, but since Cas mentioned it, Dean wants to do his best to kick him off the throne.

On his way back to their table, Dean puts on his sweetest smile and turns up the charm to maximum level. When he reaches Claire, he got a few people to promise that they would come by and check out his pie. Claire sits behind their table, headphones on and practically buried in her phone. Sometimes Dean wonders if she notices anything around her, but then again, that might be the point.

Dean takes his place beside her, and she takes off the headphones. "What's so special about Mr. Novak?"

"What?" Dean spits out, and he hopes he doesn't blush.

"You said you wanted to look around. But then you only walked over there and back again. So what's the deal?"

It seems like Claire notices a lot more than Dean gives her credit for. "They're our biggest competition," he explains.

Claire raises her eyebrows in question. "The prizes are pieces of paper with your name on it. It's not even a trophy."

"So what? The point is to win."

"I thought the point is socializing and charity work," Claire says in a sing-song, probably imitating one of her teachers.

"Very funny," Dean says. "I thought you wanted to meet with Kaila. Why don't you do that? Now?"

"Oh, thank you," Claire quips, her tone stating that she doesn't need his permission, but she leaves, and Dean is back to his most prominent problem of the evening. How can he beat Cas?

Watching him, Dean notices that lots of people head right for his table. Cas has the advantage of brand recognition, and that he's a teacher probably doesn't hurt as well. Still, Dean manages to get the word out about his pie and soon he's so busy with talking up people and selling his pie that he doesn't check on Cas again.

When the evening draws to an end, Anna heads to a microphone on a small stage on one side of the auditorium to announce the winners and let people know how much money was raised. Everybody claps for the impressive number, and Anna holds up the prizes for the top sellers. "And now we want to give a special thank you to our top sellers of the evening. In third place are Mrs. Lisa Braiden and her son Ben with their lovely pudding puffs."

Everybody claps again, and a pretty woman with long dark hair walks up to Anna, who hands her a piece of paper. "They've won the last three years in a row," Anna continues, "and today they make a solid second place. Everybody knows who I'm talking about, of course. With their wonderful cupcake creations, Castiel Novak and Jack Kline."

Under the applause of the audience, Cas walks up to collect his prize and from the cheering all around Dean can tell how well-liked Cas is. He steps up next to Lisa with a smile and promptly gets a quick hug from her. They stand next to each other a step behind Anna, who holds up the microphone again. "Now I want to announce somebody who participated for the first time this year and did a great job with their heaven like apple pie. I feel sorry for everybody who didn't taste it tonight because that's as close as you can get to the American Dream. In the first place, Dean Winchester and Claire Novak."

Since Ben and Jack refused to go up there, Dean is pretty sure that Claire won't join him either, so he makes his way up to Anna alone. She shakes his hand and hands him his prize which is really just a print out with the date and the statement that he won. Still, Dean waves into the crowd and enjoys the applause. Anna directs him to the back of the stage, and when he tries to stand next to Lisa, she ushers him to stand in the middle.

There's not much space on the small stage, and he involuntarily bumps shoulders with Cas. They share a quick look until a small man steps up in front of them. "Just a quick picture for the yearbook if you don't mind."

They all nod their approval, and when the man is done, Dean wants to talk to Cas and rub it in that he won, but Cas leaves as soon as the picture is taken and instead, Lisa congratulates him. By the time Dean gets away from her, he can't see Cas anywhere around, so he heads back to their table.

First, he tucks the piece of paper carefully into his bag and is about to start cleaning up when somebody steps up behind him. "Congratulations."

Of course, Dean recognizes the voice and turns around. "Thanks, Cas. I told you my pie is the best."

"I suppose you did," Cas admits. "But you're wrong about something else."

"What's that?"

"It's Castiel, not Cas."

"You're kidding," Dean huffs. "You don't shorten your name to Cas?"

"Oh no, I do. But only for friends and family," Cas says with only the hint of a smile and Dean bows down like he's Cas' servant.

"I beg your pardon, my lord Castiel. I won't make that mistake again," Dean promises although he will still think of him as Cas.

"Good," Cas says, and they stare at each other as if they might start a duel any second, but then Cas looks down at the table. "So, I guess I have to take everybody's word for it that your pie is really that good."

Dean beams at him, prepared for precisely this moment, even if it seemed unlikely to happen. "You can taste it yourself. I don't make empty promises."

He gets a paper plate and puts one of the few pieces of the pie that are left on it. Cas takes it but doesn't dig in right away. First, he holds it up to take a closer look before smelling it with closed eyes. Then, he takes the fork and runs it over the crust. "Should I leave you two alone or are you done with the foreplay?" Dean jokes.

"You of all people should appreciate it when I don't just shove this into my face and savor it instead," Cas says, and it's hard for Dean to argue with that, so he shuts up. Finally, Cas finishes his inspection and digs in, but not with a fork. He eats the pie right out of his hand, and instead of biting and chewing, he sucks it into his mouth and nibbles and licks on it in a way that makes Dean think of other things than eating.

Cas even closes his eyes again and moans with every bite. After he's done so with the whole piece, he puts down the paper plate and sucks his fingers into his mouth to lick them clean. That alone would be fine, but he makes eye contact with Dean who's too mesmerized to look away. "You're right," Cas finally says, "this pie is so, so good. You win."

Before Dean can say anything, Cas smiles and walks away, and Dean has to admit that he didn't win. Cas is a worthy adversary, and right now, they are even.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope to see you again :)


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